wandered in the regions of mysticism until he lost himself, and never could find his way back to common sense. Yet there never was a more practical mind than his. He devoted himself to the various branches of science with a result seldom equaled. Physiology, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Mechanics, Astronomy and Mathematics were as familiar to him as "household words." He could speak a dozen languages, and, seemingly, no topic lay outside the domain of his knowledge. There is scarcely a trade or an art that he did not know as well as its professors, and his erudition was something almost superhuman. Simple in his habits, unostentatious in his character, he was a perfect model of a true gentleman. He would delight in playing with a child and listening to its innocent prattle, and half an hour afterwards he would be found sounding the depths of immensity. Those who call him madman know little of his works and less of his character. Their stock of knowledge would be greatly improved had they but a hundreth part of that possessed by him on any one given subject. Whatever may have been the source of his intellectual power, it was indisputably of a most extraordinary character.

17 Trafalgar Road, London, England.

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BARBARISM OF CIVILIZATION.

T best we are only partially civilized. Even the religious classes are more in love with pomp than purity. As a people, we respect political power, military chieftains, and gunpowder, rather than intellectual achievements and moral heroes. Even enlightened America has so much of the old spirit of barbarism remaining, that we read and write histories of rulers rather than of the people. Fame is till won on battle-fields, while the ministers of Peace must look for their record in heaven. We build proud monuments to successful generals; but thistles often grow above the heads of philosophers, and only the daisies bloom on the poet's grave.

S. B. B.

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The Editor at Home.

JUDGE ISRAEL DILLE.

Justum et tenacem proposite virum ;

RIPE scholar and wise teacher; an eminent scientist

and profound philosopher; an original thinker and a strong writer; and, withal, a man of great moral and spiritual power-having filled up the measure of his years in honorable service of his country and mankind, suddenly, but calmly, retires from the scene of his labors. JUDGE DILLE devoted the last hours of his noble life to this JOURNAL ;* and we should dishonor our own manhood did we not pause here, to pay this tribute to the memory of one of the purest and ablest men of his time.

At the beginning of the present century the father of our subject lived in Jefferson county, in the North West Territory. The family appears to have been influential among the early settlers in that region, and the particular locality came so be known as Dille's Bottom. It is situated about sixteen miles below Wheeling, on the river, in Belmont county, Ohio. Here Judge DILLE was born, in August, 1802. He was still an infant when the family removed and settled near Cleveland. This journey through an unsettled country-without roads, and covered with the primitive forests

In completing the series of papers on "Matter, Ether and Spirit," one of which appears in this number. These, and JUDGE DILLE'S other contributions to the Quarterly, all illustrate the clearness of his conceptions, the independence of his thought, and the affluence that at once commands the treasury of knowledge, and fitly clothes the creations of the mind.

was performed on horseback, the Mother carrying Israel in her arms.

Cleveland was then near the western outpost of civilization, and not beyond the occasional incursions of wild beasts and hostile Indians. The rude scenes of border-life and the rugged labors of the pioneer-familiar to Israel in his childhood and early youth-doubtless had something to do in forming the strong mind and noble character of the man. He was neither enfeebled by indolence, nor corrupted by base indulgences-fostered by our corrupt civilization. Fortunately, he received his early education, and his character was formed, before the era of our fashionable weakness and political degeneracy. During the first fourteen years of his life his educational advantages were extremely limited. He was without teachers, save such as he recognized in the great kingdoms of Nature; and his knowledge of books was restricted to the few volumes in his father's possession. Among these was a work on astronomical science, which he studied carefully, and with increasing interest. This aided the development of his faculties, and determined his subsequent preference for scientific pursuits.

He was fifteen when he entered school at Washington, Pennsylvania, where he remained several years. His father, being a man of limited means, it became necessary for the son to teach school, a portion of the time, to enable him to pursue his studies. After completing his collegiate course, he continued his vocation as teacher at Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, at the same time pursuing the study of the law, under the direction of the late Hocking Hunter of Lancaster, in that State. After being admitted to the bar, he settled, in 1826, at Newark, Ohio, where his character as a man, not less than his legal acquirements, attracted public attention-secured many friends, and success in his profession. He was recognized by Thomas Ewing, William and Henry Stanberry, and other eminent men, as a young lawyer of great promise. He was their peer, and in many im

portant cases demonstrated his ability to cope with the most distinguished lawyers in his native State.

After an honorable career of some fourteen years in the legal profession, he found his health seriously impaired. In 1840 he retired from the practice of the law, and traveled with a view to the recovery of his health, and the acquisition of knowledge. He examined the whole country from Lake Superior to the Gulf. His remarkable power of observation and retentive memory not only enabled him to acquire a vast amount of topographical information, but he carefully studied the geology of that whole region, and became familiar with the natural products and mineral deposits along the entire lines of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. But it was not alone as a scientist that he surveyed the country. He readily perceived the vast possibilities of that region, and anticipated the great natural improvements and business enterprises that would inevitably accompany the development of its immeasurable resources. He saw the necessity for new outlets for the products of the great valleys and the broad prairies; for other channels of communication, and the facilities for rapid transportation between the storehouses of the West and the seaboard. At length he became enlisted in one of those grand enterprises, devoting much time, great energy, and rare intelligence to the prosecution of the work. But his experience was substantially that of many other men, to whom we are chiefly indebted for the accomplishment of objects of great public utility. He lost the fortune he had previously acquired. He was sacrificed, but the work was ultimately successful. He was emphatically the pioneer of the railroad and mining interests of Ohio. The very men who, many years ago, regarded him as an enthusiast, have realized large fortunes in the success of the schemes he projected, and the public interest has been vastly promoted by his remarkable foresight and broad interpretation of the necessities of his time. Many years since, when Newark, Ohio, was comparatively

a small town, Judge DILLE was elected Mayor, and in that capacity did much to promote the interests of the place. Under his municipal administration the public Park, known as Court House Square, was graded and ornamented. The little elms, planted by his hands, have become stately trees, and this public ground is now one of the chief attractions of the place. His various and important services are not forgotten by the people; but a generation, that has risen since he administered the city government, yet holds his name in respect, and his services in grateful remembrance. On the occasion of his last visit to his old home, a deputation of prominent citizens met and welcomed him to the place which, long ago, his intelligence and public spirit had contributed to improve and beautify. It was a grateful recognition of his public services. This tribute of respect, from the authorities and people of Newark, was all the more appropriate and significant, since it was paid to one whose superior attainments and exalted character had already rendered him her most distinguished citizen.

Not only was the practice of the law, in some respects, unsuited to Judge DILLE'S tastes, but he instinctively recoiled from the rude conflicts of the political arena. The constitution and habit of his mind determined him to seek the more peaceful walks of life, and his chastened ambition chiefly aimed at mental and moral achievements. These he recognized as the principal levers that lift the human race up to higher conditions. But his love of retirement, and his strong preference for intellectual pursuits, were accompanied by no visible trace of weakness or irresolution when great principles were to be defended, and the institutions of a nation were required to pass through the fire of revolution. His idea of the uses of adversity is clearly expressed in a little poem, written when the rising cloud of the late Rebellion was beginning to overshadow the Republic. We extract the following stanzas from his.